Ohio St.<\/a><\/strong> (+1600): The Buckeyes have a new coach in Ryan Day and a new quarterback in Justin Fields, but optimism abounds in Columbus, even if Fields, a Georgia transfer, hasn\u2019t proven himself as a starter.<\/p>\nThe Rest of the Top Ten<\/h2>\n 6. LSU<\/strong> (+2500): The Tigers have 16 starters returning from last year\u2019s Fiesta Bowl-winning squad. But if LSU wants to play for a national title, it must beat Southeastern Conference West rival Alabama. Possibly twice. The two play at ‘Bama in the regular season. LSU last beat the Tide in 2011 in a game at Alabama.<\/p>\n7. Michigan <\/strong>(+1400): The Wolverines also have a new quarterback, former Ole Miss starter Shea Patterson, who will have a trio of veteran receivers as targets this year. Michigan seeks its first Big Ten title since 2004 and its first outright conference crown since 2013.<\/p>\n8. Florida<\/strong> (+5000): The Gators have eight returning starters off a defense that ranked in the top 25 in several statistics, including seven in turnovers forced with 26. Quarterback Feleipe Franks returns after starting all 13 games last season to give the offense a boost.<\/p>\n9. Notre Dame<\/strong> (+5000): The Fighting Irish return 13 starters, led by senior quarterback Ian Book, who proved to be an effective passer last season by completing 70.4 percent of his throws. However, because Notre Dame is an independent, they\u2019ll need to run the table to make the playoff. Games at Georgia, Michigan, and Stanford will make that tough this year.<\/p>\n10. Texas<\/strong> (+2500): Coach Tom Herman has turned around the Longhorns in Austin, but he faces a tough task this season as he has just eight starters returning. One of those returning starters is junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who threw for 3,292 yards and a 25-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio last season.<\/p>\nTeams 11-25: 11. Texas A&M<\/strong> (+20000), 12. Washington<\/strong> (+5000), 13. Oregon<\/strong> (+5000), 14. Penn St.<\/strong> (+10000), 15. Utah<\/strong> (+5000), 16. Auburn<\/strong> (+5000), 17. Wisconsin<\/strong> (+20000), 18. Central Florida<\/strong> (+100000), 19. Iowa<\/strong> (+30000), 20. Michigan St.<\/strong> (+10000), 21. Washington St.<\/strong> (+10000), 22. Syracuse<\/strong> (+20000), 23. Stanford<\/strong> (+20000), 24. Iowa St.<\/strong> (+20000), and 25. Northwestern<\/strong> (+100000).<\/p>\nBest odds among the unranked: Nebraska<\/strong> (+5000).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first major college football poll of the year came out late last week, and as expected, Clemson starts off the 2019 season where it ended last season: on top. The Tigers, the defending national champions, took 59 of 65 possible first-place votes in USA Today\u2019s Amway Coaches Poll. Alabama, who lost to Clemson in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":111110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Vegas Favorites Clemson, Bama Top First College Football Coaches Poll<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n